The present invention relates to methods for treating arsenic-contaminated waste matrix and associated pore water to stabilize the arsenic and reduce arsenic leaching to contaminant acceptable levels.
Arsenic, which is carcinogenic in its inorganic form, is identified in the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) as a hazardous metal and is reportedly the third most common regulated inorganic contaminant found at Superfund sites. Specific sources of hazardous waste containing arsenic include:
*pesticides and herbicides [MSMA (monosodium methane arsonate), cacodylic acid (dimethyl arsinic acid), sodium arsenite, lead arsenate)],
*ammonia still lime sludge from coking operations,
*veterinary pharmaceuticals [(RCRA waste listing K084) wastewater treatment sludge, (K101) distillation tar residue from distillation of aniline-based compounds, (K102) residue from use of activated carbon for decolorization],
*arsenic sulfide (D004) generated from phosphoric acid purification, and
*wood preservative manufacturing wastes.
Other anthropogenic sources of arsenic include:
*coal-burning fly ash from energy production
*copper, lead and zinc smelter operations
*gold mining operations, and
*glass manufacturing and cotton gin processing.
While arsenic, like other metals, exhibits a positive valence state, in aqueous materials it usually exists not as a solitary cationic species but as an oxy-anion, typically in a mixture of a trivalent (+3), reduced form (arsenite, AsO33−) and/or a pentavalent (+5) oxidized form (arsenate, AsO43−). As a result, technologies that effectively treat other cationic metals are typically not effective for stabilizing arsenic.
The ability of arsenic to change oxidation state under certain environmental conditions poses a challenge to treatment methods because the different oxidation states have different mobilities in the environment. Arsenite is usually more mobile than arsenate. Also, arsenic is amenable to numerous chemical and biological transformations in the environment, which can result in increased mobility. The mobility of arsenic can be controlled by redox conditions, pH, biological activity and adsorption/desorption reactions.
Arsenic stabilization chemistry is complex and is influenced significantly by the chemical speciation of arsenic (valence state, inorganic vs. organic, etc.), the oxidation-reduction potential and acidity/alkalinity of the waste matrix and associated pore water, and the presence of other metals, counter ions, and complexing ligands. Arsenic is often present in waste and associated pore water with lead or chromium. Typical techniques for stabilizing these metals (e.g., treating with phosphate to stabilize lead, or treating with reducing agents to stabilize chromium) can undesirably increase arsenic leachability from wastes and associated pore water. When arsenic and chromium are found together in the same matrix, the contaminants are typically present as chromated copper arsenate (CCA).
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, slag vitrification at 1,100 to 1,400*C is the Best Demonstrated Available Treatment (BDAT) for arsenic. In a vitrification process, all forms of arsenic are converted to arsenic oxide, which reacts with other glass-forming constituents and becomes immobilized in the glass formed. In most arsenic stabilization situations, vitrification is impractical, however, because of the high energy costs and a secondary problem of volatilizing arsenic to cause air pollution.
Other known detoxification technologies include chemistries that involve solidification or chemical stabilization. “Solidification” is defined by US EPA as a technique that encapsulates the waste and associated pore water in a monolithic solid of high structural integrity. The encapsulation may be effected by fine waste particles (microencapsulation) or by a large block or container of wastes (macroencapsulation). Solidification does not necessarily involve a chemical interaction between the wastes and the solidifying reagents, but may mechanically bind the waste into the monolith. Contaminant migration is restricted by decreasing the surface area exposed to leaching and/or by isolating the wastes within an impervious capsule. “Stabilization” refers to those techniques that reduce the hazard potential of a waste and associated pore water by converting the contaminants into their least soluble, mobile, or toxic form. The physical nature and handling characteristics of the waste are not necessarily changed by stabilization. These definitions appear on page 2 of Conner, J. R., Chemical Fixation and Solidification of Hazardous Wastes, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York (1990), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,479 (Stanforth) discloses a method for treating solid hazardous waste containing unacceptable levels of leachable metals such as lead, cadmium and zinc, which includes the steps of mixing the solid waste with at least two additives, a pH buffering agent and an additional agent which is a salt or acid containing an anion that forms insoluble or non-leachable forms of the leachable metal, each agent being selected from a specified group of agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,033 (Stanforth et al.) discloses a method for treating solid hazardous waste containing unacceptable levels of leachable metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, zinc, copper and chromium, which includes the steps of mixing the solid waste in situ with a phosphate source or a carbonate source or ferrous sulfate. An additional pH controlling agent is optionally added under conditions which support reaction between the additive and pH controlling agent and the metals, to convert the metals to a relatively stable non-leachable form.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,235 (Hooykaas et al.) discloses a process for solidifying an arsenic-contaminated matrix as a rock-hard product using high dosages of a clay material, an iron salt, a manganese salt, an oxidizer, and a hydraulic binder such as Portland cement. The process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,235 has several disadvantages. Because of the requirement for a hydraulic binder, the process includes a curing period of 7 days or longer. The process also results in significant bulking (volume increase) of the treated waste materials. If dosage levels are lower than those identified as preferred, it is difficult to achieve solidification.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,077 (Hooykaas et al.) discloses a process for solidifying contaminated soil, sediment or sludge that may contain arsenic by adding iron, manganese, aluminum salts and Portland cement at dosages of 20 percent by weight and higher. Again, the process requires a curing period and has the additional disadvantage of high bulking after treatment. Hooykaas et al. use an oxidizing agent to oxidize organic matter, since it is difficult to solidify the waste matrix in the presence of organic matter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,003 (McGahan) discloses a process for controlling arsenic leaching from waste materials by adding iron (III) ions and magnesium (II) ions, preferably in the form of iron (III) sulfate and magnesium oxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,992 (Hager) discloses a process for fixing pentavalent arsenic in soil by adding metal salts or iron, aluminum, or chromium and a weak organic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,051 (Falk) discloses a process for encapsulating waste that contains toxic metals, including arsenic, by adding a mixture of alkaline silicate and magnesium oxide, and, optionally, borax, a concentrated acid, a reducing agent, and fly ash at high dosage rates.
The iron (ferric) sulfate treatment process is ineffective against reduced forms of arsenic and does not provide long-term stability of treated wastes because, under certain natural conditions, the ferric ions may be reduced to ferrous form, thereby remobilizing the arsenic. The solidification processes require very high additive dosages with resultant high bulking of the treated waste.
None of the known technologies discloses a process for cost-effectively and permanently stabilizing arsenic in the pore water associated with contaminated soil, sediment, or sludge (hereinafter collectively referred to as “waste matrix”) where the arsenic can be present in trivalent and pentavalent states, and in both organic and inorganic forms. Pore water of a waste matrix does not exist independently, but rather resides in, and saturates, the waste matrix.
The patents mentioned in the Background of the Invention are specifically incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
What is now needed is a method for treating an arsenic-contaminated waste matrix and associated pore water to stabilize the arsenic and reduce arsenic leaching to contaminant acceptable levels.